GHD launches inaugural UK Disruption Index to assess resilience of key business sectors

GHD has today launched its inaugural UK Disruption Index, which evaluates which UK industries have established resilience, and which are most susceptible to future shock and disruption, in  today’s uncertain and unpredictable climate. 

The Water sector has been identified as the sector most resilient to future disruption, and Retail as the least. 

To build the index, GHD has analysed the risk of disruption to 11 key sectors - Rail, Highways, Water, Energy, Chemical  & Pharmaceuticals, Construction, Real Estate, Retail, Manufacturing, Financial Services, and Information & Communication - through a combination of independent research, internal GHD expert consultation data, and a survey  of 2002 UK consumers and hundreds of business decision makers.  

This research was carried out through four lenses, all of which are key to enabling a business or industry to be truly  resilient in the long term. By prioritising each of these areas, businesses and industries should ensure they are better  prepared for future uncertainty and shocks. 

Customers: Understanding and planning for changing behaviours and expectations. 

Business: Ensuring business models are robust, investable and sustainable. 

Assets: Using fully optimised assets that minimise waste. 

Innovation: Investing in technology and piloting new solutions; testing how to meet changing consumer demands. Disruption Index rankings: 

Sector Overall ranking

• Water 1 (most resilient to future disruption) 

• Information & Communication 2 

• Energy 3 

• Highways 4 

• Manufacturing 5 

• Rail 6 

• Chemical & Pharmaceuticals 7 

• Financial Services 8 

• Real Estate 9 

• Construction 10 

• Retail 11 (least resilient to future disruption) 

Key findings from GHD’s research include: 

• 77% of business leaders consider their organisation to be prepared for disruption in the future. • 80% of business leaders believe their company has proved more resilient than expected, given the challenges of  the past two years. 

• 63% of business leaders believe their industry has adapted quickly to Covid-19 and changing customer demands  over the past two years. 

• Business leaders see economic uncertainty as the factor that will cause the biggest disruption to their organisation in the next 10 years, followed by changing consumer demands and Covid-19 (or other such pandemics). • Changing consumer demands is a considerable vulnerability across the majority of industries and is one of the  top risks for the Energy, Rail, Financial Services and Retail sectors. 

Commenting on the UK Disruption Index’s findings, Jonathan Edwards, EMEA Market Development Leader at  GHD, said: “The results of our first ever Disruption Index have highlighted several points that are imperative to ensuring future resilience across all sectors as we see crisis and disruption management becoming a key part of sustainable  business. 

There can be no question that the consumer has never had more information or power. Our research has confirmed  that the changing behaviours and expectations of consumers presents the biggest risk to resilience across industries. If  businesses don’t start designing for the user first and foremost, they will get left behind at best and fail at worst. 

The need to innovate is also clear. 5G is a game changer for all sectors and the Internet of Things can be rolled out in  a whole new way. However, innovation isn’t just about technology, but about changing ways of working and how businesses engage with employees and consumers. Ultimately, businesses that are able to stay on top of the change  and provide increasingly new insights will be the ones that succeed. 

Then, of course, there is the need for businesses to fully embed ESG into their operations. In addition to this, the pathway  to decarbonisation is mission critical for senior leaders now, and organisations need to have a clear net zero strategy in  place in order to build a resilient future.  

Never before has there been such an opportunity for industries to rethink every facet of their being. If it’s not quite a  blank slate, it’s the closest thing we’ve had – and will have – for some time to come. UK industry needs to take that step  forward to create greater balance of connectivity, resilience, productivity and investability to ensure a strong future for  the British economy.”